page_title: National Liberal Party (Romania)
section_title: 1990–2000: Re-foundation and first governing experiences
hierarchical_section_title: National Liberal Party (Romania) / History / 1990–2000: Re-foundation and first governing experiences
caption_attribution_description: Română: Bucuresti, Romania, Aleea Modrogan nr. 1 (Vila); B-II-m-B-19227 (4) This is a photo of a historic monument in București, classified with number B-II-m-B-19227
context_page_description: The National Liberal Party is a conservative-liberal and liberal conservative political party in Romania. Refounded in 1990, it claims the legacy of the major political party of the same name, active between 1875 and the late 1940s in the Kingdom of Romania. Based on this legacy, it often presents itself as the first formally constituted political party in the country and the oldest party from the family of European liberal parties.
  Until 2014, the PNL was a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The party statutes adopted in June 2014 dropped any reference to international affiliation, consequently most of its MEPs joined the European People's Party group in the European Parliament. The implication of this decision in internal Romanian politics was that the PNL gradually re-defined itself as a political party akin to the ideology and activity of Germany's CDU/CSU.
  On 12 September 2014, it was admitted as a full member of the European People's Party, and subsequently merged with the Democratic Liberal Party. The party was also a member of the Liberal International before switching to Centrist Democrat International.
context_section_description: The National Liberal Party of Romania was re-founded in January, 1990, a few days after the end of the 1989 Romanian revolution. At that time, the party revolved around two political leaders such as Radu Câmpeanu and Mircea Ionescu-Quintus, both former youth liberal leaders during the interwar period and after World War II. At the 1990 general elections, the PNL became the third largest party in Romania and its then leader, Radu Câmpeanu, finished second in the same year's presidential elections, with 10.6% of the cast votes, behind Ion Iliescu.
  Shortly afterwards, most notably alongside the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (PNȚ-CD), but to a lesser extent also with other smaller center-right parties and NGOs, the PNL managed to form the Romanian Democratic Convention (CDR) in an effort to ensemble a stronger collective opposition and alternative governing body to then ruling National Salvation Front (FSN). However, prior to the 1992 general elections, Câmpeanu decided to withdraw the party from the CDR electoral alliance and instead compete as a stand-alone political force.
  Ultimately, this proved to be a strategic error, as the party did not manage to surpass the needed electoral threshold for parliamentary presence and as such was forced to enter extra-parliamentary opposition for the period 1992–1996. This also resulted in several splinter factions leaving the main party, with some PNL groups opting to remain within the CDR while others still supporting Câmpeanu's side.
  Nevertheless, after a change of leadership that saw Ionescu-Quintus as the new party leader elected in 1995, the PNL contested the 1996 general election as part of the CDR. The 1996 general elections represented the first peaceful transition of power in post-1989 Romania, with the PNL, PNȚ-CD, Democratic Party (PD), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) forming a grand coalition that pushed the PDSR (formerly the FSN) in opposition for the period 1996–2000. The presidency was also won by the CDR's common candidate, more specifically Emil Constantinescu, who received support on behalf of all of the alliance's constituent parties (including the PNL political groups therein).
caption: Central headquarters of the PNL located on Modrogan Alley, Bucharest
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